Diving for Pearls

Waterfalls and steamships...

OK, I'm only going to give you one Niagara picture. I'm not going to give you pictures of high rise hotels and casinos, tacky gift stores and waddling tourists in yellow plastic shrouds. You don't want to see that- I know we didn't! But seriously, the Falls themselves are quite stupendous.

We retreated to the calm and tasteful luxury of the Riverbend Inn at Niagara-on-the-Lake; surrounded by vineyards and peacefulness.

Then to Muskoka- land of lakes and steamships.

We took a steamer round the lakes, under dramatic skies and amongst inlets and islands that left us wanting to explore more...

... and also left us with a serious case of property envy. How about this for your holiday home, on your own private island...

Having the whole family trapped for two hours on a boat meant I stood a chance of a group photo or two....without me of course.... maybe one day!

And then the sun came out...

Toronto, tarantara!

What did the Hawes family need more than anything else? A change of scene, some family time, to put a little distance between us and the upswell of stress and strain that life's ocean has recently put in the path of our normally happy little ship.

The summer hols have arrived in the nick of time, for us, and today we have experienced the sights and sounds of a foreign city through the slightly surreal haze and numbed senses endowed by a longish plane flight and a five hour time difference.

We hopped on a yellow bus to tour the happy and vibrant city, stopping off at museums and eateries and tempting shops.

A perfect day but we're done with cities for now, having reached our 36 hour tolerance and we're off to brave the Torontian traffic tomorrow to see for ourselves if the Niagara Falls are all they're cracked up to be.

She sings.

Eclipse at The Suite

A few from the weekend; the band plus groupies travelled to Primrose Hill in London to record a few tracks for posterity, at 'The Suite'....
Great sounds, hellish lights which turned everyone's faces an alien shade of green, making my job difficult (hence the black and white!) ... but a fabulous day out.

By having the courage to be herself ...

...she put something wonderful in the world that was not there before....

 

Garden Magic.

After reading this post I went and found a little magic of my own. It's true, it's there if you look.
Taken a few minutes ago under the midday sun, straight out of camera.

Away with the bunnies...

For the latest show the kids blackened their noses and fluffed up their tails for a series of performances of Watership Down, a tale of lapine (i.e rabbitty) love and loss.

Sophie shone as Hyzenthlay, wrenching at our heartstrings, with Rob as Bigwig.

Not a dry eye in the house...

What a show! Great songs, amazing choreography, and talent oozing from every paw.

Miller chiller...

Going....

Going....

Gone...

The first picture of the rest of my life...

A new lens, a new resolve to use it with meaning, a break in the rainclouds for a short minute, and another moment safely captured.

 

Dance...

The exuberant confidence in a youthful body...

the rapturous glow of the lowering sun

and a new summer frock. Wouldn't you want to dance?